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It’s unfortunate for us to announce but last night James Avery, who many knew as Philip Banks/ “Uncle Phil” on the 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air died at the age of 68 in California. Avery was in the hospital undergoing open-heart surgery for an unknown illness that he had contracted when he passed on. I can speak for all 90s babies when I say we spent most of our teen years watching Avery during re-runs of The Fresh Prince on Nick At Nite, his acting prowess and comedic whit was something to be marveled at.

He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Barbara Avery; his mother, Florence Avery of Atlantic City; and a stepson, Kevin Waters.

I’m deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away. He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly. pic.twitter.com/UrW0EeBFbO

Below, is my favorite scene from the show in which Will Smith‘s dad becomes a dead-beat once more causing Will to become an emotional wreck. However, Uncle Phil is there to console and counsel him. Very powerful and heartfelt acting.

Yesterday, while you were getting ready to drown in a pool of booze in celebration of New Year’s Day, A$AP’s second-in-command A$AP Ferg released the visual for “Hood Pope”. In the visual for the hood anthem, we find Fergenstein venturing around Harlem World while being the beacon of hope for the young Harlemites who are at risk of going down the wrong path. Watch the full visual for “Hood Pope” here. The video was directed by Shomi Patwary, check out our interview with the seasoned director here.

2013 brought Chicago lyricist Chance The Rapper great fortunate as he was propelled into the spotlight via the success of his genre-blending mixtape Acid Rap and to finish off the year, Chancellor has been also granted the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” placement by Source Magazine. Be sure to read the full story when the issue hits newsstands January 7th. View the cover as Chance plays ventriloquist above.

Today, we get some new menacing music from 50 Cent whose Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire To Win mixtape will be released in the coming months. A majority of the track is 50 talking about how he’s going back to his old grimy style of stepping on rappers’ necks and getting money by any means necessary. Listen to “This Is Murder Not Music” above. New year, new 50? We can only hope…

Rap’s queen Nicki Minaj returns to release some fire over PTAF‘s viral hit “Boss Ass Bitch”. Expect Nicki to return to her throne in 2014 as she had a rather quiet 2013. If this track is any indication of the things to come, we should make sure to keep our heads up and eyes focused. Listen to Minaj’s “Boss Ass Bitch” above. I’m excited to see what else Nicki has in her bag…

Audio Push and Joey Bada$$ connect forces on the snow-covered train tracks and stairwells to release the visual for their “Tis The Season” (off Audio Push’s project Come As You Are) which was directed by Manuall Focus. Watch above!